The Power of Art: One Year After the Noto Peninsula Earthquake

A Hand Craft Group Launched after the Earthquake

It is mid-December 2024, just before the heavy snow sets in. Food distribution is underway at a community center in a temporary housing area in the Misaki-machi district of Suzu, Ishikawa Prefecture, which was devastated by the Noto Peninsula Earthquake of January 1, 2024. Today’s menu is curry rice, and a long queue of people awaits. They include people living in the housing and people sheltering at home. Most take the food and hurry back to eat it while it is still hot.

Food distribution at the community center. (© Nippon.com)

Temporary housing was erected on the grounds of Misaki Junior High School. The community center is near the gate. (© Nippon.com)

Social welfare worker Yamagata Yūko has set up an array of sewing equipment, along with scraps of kimono and other cloth, in one corner of the center. When people approach out of curiosity, she encourages them to join her for some sewing and chit-chat. “Come back after you’ve eaten!”

According to Yamagata, “People don’t have many opportunities to talk, even living in the same temporary housing. There’s much less casual chatter compared to when people were in the evacuation shelter.” Smiling, she explains that “More importantly than sewing, I hope this gives people a chance to talk and enjoy themselves.”

The crafting corner. The plastic cases stacked to the left contain cloth Yamagata Yūko saved from her old workplace after the quake. (© Nippon.com)

After a while, a group of women gathers. Yamagata tells them, “You can just cut some cloth into a heart shape and sew it up or glue it. If you see some cloth you like, feel free to take it home.” The women begin to engage in small talk as they peruse the cloth.

As they are cutting and sewing, they ask after one another and share updates on their situations. Some open up about things they usually keep to themselves: “Rebuilding of our home will be finished soon, but I feel sad about leaving the temporary housing.”

The women share memories as they choose fabric. Yamagata Yūko is on the left. (© Nippon.com)

Yamagata, always smiling, explains: “Some people may question the value of art in Noto’s current state. But that’s because they think of art as something you make and exhibit. Art is a way of expressing that we’re alive, and gives us time to look inward. It also connects people to one another.”

She is an evacuee herself: She lost her house in the quake and lives in the temporary housing. The rehabilitation center where she worked as a caregiver has closed, but as an appointed guardian of adults, she is still responsible for caring for other victims of the disaster.

A member of the craft group cuts hearts out for the others. (© Nippon.com)

A group of six or seven gather spontaneously. (© Nippon.com)

Helping Evacuees After Losing Her Own Home

Yamagata was at home with her family watching television when the earthquake struck. Noto had many tremors over the preceding years, so she thought nothing of it initially. But soon, the ceiling, walls, and windows began to creak and her house started to collapse.

When their mobile phones shrieked with a tsunami alert, they evacuated to the designated evacuation point, a school, but had to wait over two hours before they could go inside the facility, which was closed over the winter break. She recalls the freezing cold, as aftershocks continued, “The stars alone were beautiful. I felt so sad.”

Her house split in two between the living room and kitchen. (© Yamagata Yūko)

Like many others, Yamagata was faced with living as an evacuee, but at the same time, she also had to perform her duties as an adult guardian. For over 10 years, she had been assisting elderly people with dementia, and others with inadequate judgment, in dealing with administrative procedures, medical and nursing care service contracts, and property management, under appointment from the family court.

At the time of the earthquake, she had nine people under her care, and the hospitals and other facilities where they lived called her for permission to evacuate these patients. But it was unclear where they could be placed or how long they would need to be sheltered. Yamagata felt conflicted, but she had to prioritize patients’ safety, so in most cases, she granted permission.

A collapsed house directly outside of Misaki Junior High School. (© Nippon.com)

Was Her Decision the Right One?

Yamagata is still bothered by one case, in which she refused a transfer. She had a couple in their nineties under her guardianship; the hospital feared for the life of the wife, and asked that she be transferred to a facility in another prefecture. Yamagata had to give an immediate answer, but recalling her dealings with the couple, she thought how wretched they would feel to be separated. Consequently, she declined the transfer. She worked hard to make arrangements with the facilities for the couple to live together, but sadly the wife passed away a month later. Even now, she wonders whether her decision was the right one.

Suzu has the smallest population of any city on Japan’s main island of Honshū, and it has declined further since the disaster. The population is currently estimated at under 8,000. Over 50% of the popular is aged 65 or older, and over 75% of communities are considered genkai shūraku, “marginal communities” on the edge of population collapse. The need for elderly care, welfare, and adult guardianship is expected to increase.

Yamagata believes it is important that she shares her experiences clearly, to help recovery efforts in underpopulated areas. In earthquake-prone Japan, anybody could be the next evacuee. She explains that she actively seeks opportunities to speak with reporters or give lectures, in Ishikawa Prefecture and elsewhere, so that her experience is not in vain.

Yamagata’s tough experiences as an adult guardian were reported in the national papers. (© Nippon.com)

Art’s Role in Sustainable Community Revitalization

Yamagata first developed an interest in art three years ago. Someone at the facility where she worked remarked that her handicraft was “a work of art.” It reminded her of words from a lecture in her college days, “Living is itself art.”

Around the same time, she noticed a poster at the library promoting DOOR, the Diversity on the Arts Project, a course offered to nonstudents by the Tokyo University of the Arts. The course, with the theme “Care × Art,” was directed by the university’s president, Hibino Katsuhiko, and aimed to train people to be able to foster “a society where diverse people can coexist.” Considering its connection to her work, and the fact that she could take the course online, she signed up to start in April 2023.

She became absorbed in the course content and her assignments, and came to realize that art could connect people and also had the power to support people emotionally. In addition, Yamagata wondered if art could play a part in sustainable community revitalization. The Noto Peninsula Earthquake struck while she was partway through the course.

The chatter is more important than the crafting going on. (© Nippon.com)

A Reminder that Human Endeavor is Art

When she was initially evacuated, art was the farthest thing from her mind. Because she had a pet, she lived in her car, moving from shelter to shelter. For a time, she stayed with a relative, before finally moving into temporary housing on March 20. She joined a disaster relief organization as a staff member and was charged with visiting disaster victims throughout the city to check if they were struggling in any way.

Yamagata’s house was destroyed in the quake, and was later demolished and the land cleared. (© Nippon.com)

She had finally grown used to life as an evacuee and her new job, when a “Heart Mark Viewing” event was scheduled for September 21 by a team from Tokyo University of the Arts, led by Hibino. Heart shapes made by supporters throughout Japan were collected for shelter residents to make a tapestry. Intended to brighten up the shared living space for evacuees, this activity was also staged in areas affected by the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and 2016 Kumamoto earthquakes.

As a course graduate, Yamagata planned to attend, but the event was canceled when torrential rains struck the area. The next day, she organized a small “craft and chat meet-up” with some acquaintances, which brought back their smiles and friendly chit-chat. The participants also began to open up and share their true feelings.

Yamagata was reminded again of the power of art. “As I listened to them, I understood that we all face struggles and doubts. It’s not as simple as caring and being cared for: we take care of one another. This is a benefit of coming together for art.” Later, she was able to share her experiences with Hibino when he visited Suzu on another occasion. He encouraged her to continue to hold Heart Mark Viewings, in any location and any way that she pleased.

At a meeting at the Suzu community hall, Yamagata explains the “Heart Mark Viewing” activity. (© Kawakatsu Miki)

Passing on Stories is Art

Now, Yamagata is considering how to continue with this activity. With the creation of the community center in the temporary housing area where she lives, she decided to have a trial run, which we were invited to report on.

Yamagata listens to the participants attentively. (© Nippon.com)

As we were packing up, we looked out the window and saw a pair of elderly women, both well over 80, shuffling along on their walkers. Yamagata commented, “I hope they’ll join next time. I’d love to hear about Suzu in the old days. One of the participants said to me that the very existence of those women is a work of art.”

Yamagata continues, “Recently, I can’t recall the view from my former home.” She strongly believes it is important that residents talk about their memories, to keep them alive, and to keep telling people about their city, including experiences from the disaster. “I want us to keep sharing about the past year, and about the lives of individuals, to help the next time that disaster strikes. That activity in itself is also art!”

The heart shapes express a range of feelings. I pray that these hopes can be realized soon. (© Nippon.com)

(Originally published in Japanese. Banner photo: Participants proudly show off their works of art. © Nippon.com.)